In 2021, Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan met for a key summit in the city of Baku They walked out of the summit with plans to build closer political, economic and military ties Over the last four years, their quasi-alliance has come to be known as the "Three Brothers Alliance"

India has been concerned by the rise of this coalition Over the last week, Azerbaijan and Turkey have supported Pakistan diplomatically after India's military strikes Turkish drones were used by PAK in operations against India And both nations have supported PAK on Kashmir

But why does this coalition exist? And what does it stand for? The driving force behind the Three Brothers alliance seems to be Turkey President Recep Erdogan wants to expand Turkey's influence by building ties with nations that share close historic and cultural links with it

Azerbaijan and Turkey share a common Turkic heritage And all three nations are majority Islamic countries Building this coalition has worked out for all three For example, Turkish military support helped Azerbaijan defeat Armenia in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Pakistan has had a close defence relationship with Turkey since the 1950s This has allowed PAK to acquire cruise missiles, drones and other key military tech In 2021, the three countries launched the Three Brothers military exercise to improve military coordination

Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan also support each other in their respective territorial conflicts This means that Islamabad counts on the other two to back its policy on Kashmir Turkey has repeatedly raised the Kashmir issue at forums like the UN - which has irritated India

Kabir Taneja (@KabirTaneja) of the ORF tells me this coalition has been around for some time now "It is definitely a geopolitical construct that is a problem for India. But is it a big problem for India on the international level? I don’t think so,” Taneja says

He points out that neither Turkey nor Azerbaijan are investing much in Pakistan's economy However, Taneja also argues that India has to push back diplomatically India has done this by working closely with Iran and Armenia Both nations have been worried by this new coalition

Armenia has fought a decades long territorial struggle with Azerbaijan Iran has also had tensions with Azerbaijan due to the millions of Azeris who live in Iran They have close cultural links with Azerbaijan and Iran fears Baku will use these links to push separatist movements

India has sold Armenia weapon locating radars, artillery systems and rocket launchers to bolster its military @sneheshphilip reported last year that talks are ongoing for the purchase of Astra missiles and upgrades to Armenia's Su30s fighter jets This has angered Azerbaijan

India has also cultivated closer ties with Cyprus - which has a territorial dispute with Turkey India has supported Cyprus on this diplomatically while Cyprus has given its support for India's diplomatic priorities Once again, Turkey hasn't been pleased with India's policy

That brings us to this week when both Turkey and Azerbaijan supported Pakistan diplomatically India's ties with both nations are expected to suffer JNU has ended an academic agreement with a Turkish university And calls are growing for Indian tourists to boycott both countries

India is likely to continue working closely with Greece, Cyprus, Armenia and Iran on the challenge posed by the Three Brothers Alliance Its relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan - which are tense but not hostile - may get worse as time goes on

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